


Pap Talk

by skellylover19



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable Papyrus (Undertale), Art Block, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Other, Papyrus (Undertale) Being Papyrus, Reader-Insert, Self-Insert, but papy cares about them and gives them the affection they need, he calls you friend but honestly he would call you friend even if you were married, i couldn't draw so i wrote this this is very much self indulgent, papyrus cares about you, papyrus could be either a friend or a datemate honestly it's not specified, papyrus is supportive and amazing, reader gender is not specified, reader is an artist who's having art block
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-07
Updated: 2019-03-07
Packaged: 2019-11-13 13:04:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18032288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skellylover19/pseuds/skellylover19
Summary: This is possibly the worst case of artblock you've ever been through.What your hand is doing never seems to match up the vision in your brain, every line you draw looking wrong and deserving to be erased from this world and the canvas.Luckily, a very handsome, very supportive skeleton comes to visit you in the trashhole that is your room.And just because he's an absolute sweetheart who cares a lot about you he tries to help you out with your problem... in his own special Papyrus way.





	Pap Talk

**Author's Note:**

> wasn't ablet to draw so i wrote about papyrus giving a pep talk to a reader ot being able to draw. enjoy!

You stared at the empty canvas on your screen. The blinding white against the dim lights of your bedroom stared you back accusatorily.

The mere thought of doing anything else than keeping to zone out was exhausting but you needed to push through. You needed to do this.

You. Needed. To draw something.

So collecting all the willpower you had in your body -that you swore was less than what fitness people had in their stupid pinky finger- you picked up the pen and started drawing. Actually, started was a pretty strong word; tried was probably more appropriate. Yes, definitely tried, you thought as your fingers hit ctr-z for what felt like the 1000th time.

Nothing felt right. You were afraid of failure for going out of your comfort zone and even more afraid of being stuck in a painful cycle of drawing the same things over and over again. What did you owe to yourself? The easy way of being satisfied with your own mediocre creations or the promise that one day if you kept practicing those boring figure studies and backgrounds you’d be finally good enough to have fun with your own art?

You sighed as the pen laid defeated under your tired hand. Maybe this was just a off day. But again how many off days were you allowed to have before you forgot how to do something?

You didn’t have time to finish yet the 32nd inconvenient thought of the day because apparently someone thought it would be a great idea to kick your door open instead of using the handle like a normal human being.

That someone of course was Papyrus.

“AGAIN??? HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO REMIND YOU? THIS LIGHT IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR DELICATE HUMAN CORNEAS!!”

You growled as you shield your eyes from the absolute ray of sunshine that was Papyrus. And from the lights in the hallway too, too bright for your nocturnal bat-senses, much more painful to look at than you remembered.

“Papyrus please, whatever you’re doing it’s really not the time” Your voice sounded a little too whiny as you stretched your aching back gaining one weird look out of Papyrus when nearly all your bones popped at once.

“OH OK THEN, I GUESS I WILL BRING THIS FRESHLY BROUGHT PIZZA SOMEWHERE ELSE AND EAT IT. ALONE. LACKING A STOMACH.”

Your starving self visibly glowing at the sound of the magic word.

“Pizza?”

He flickered the lightswitch on “YUP. PIZZA. YOU JUST NEED TO COME OVER HERE” He sat at the edge of your bed with a very satisfied look on his face “TO GET IT” he patted a very comfy looking spot near him.

The thought of leaving your workplace didn’t appeal to you so much. You knew you’d never get anything done if you leaved now. You just… needed to force it a little bit more…

Papyrus silently opened the box of pizza… and let your grumbling belly do the job.

You sat at his side and he shoved the container in your arms “SEE?? IT WASN’T DIFFICULT”

God, quality food felt amazing after six hours of not eating anything but salted tortillas… why were you doing this to yourself again?

You mumbled something between the bites but he silenced you telling you to just take your time with it. Probably equally disgusted and moved by your neandertal-ish manners and zero carefulness on making sure the bed covers didn’t get stained.

When you finished gutting down the food (because that’s the only appropriate term to describe someone eating a whole damn pizza in less than five minutes) you shifted to get up, hoping that the newfound margherita power would help you finally get some drawing information from your brain down to the muscles of your hand.

“WAIT! DON’T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!” Before you could even ground your first step his slender yet very firm arms wrapped around your waist and pulled you against his ribcage.

“Papyrus please let me go!” Futile was any attempt to wriggle your way out of the great Papyrus embrace. Ah, of course! You were so hungry you forgot thank him for the meal, he won’t let you go without giving him a hug that must be it.

You spun around and paid him back in nuzzles against his bones. Not the most comfortable thing you could be rubbing your face against but your steel honor would never let you leave a debt unpaid. His grip loosened up a little but you weren’t quick enough to go before he firmly pulled you up and settled you on his lap like a weightless doll.

“NOT EVEN YOUR POWERFUL DEPISTATION TEQNIQUES WILL BE ABLE TO SAVE YOU THIS TIME!” The determination in his words didn’t make him notice when his jaw hit the top of your head. You sure did tho.

“Ouch! Papyrus what is all of this for?”

He hesitated to reply, tightening his hold on you. If it wasn’t for the clean tartan button up shirt he was wearing you would have been compressed inside of his ribcage.

“Did Sans sent you?”

He shifted his weight to cross his legs around you “PLEASE DON’T BE MAD AT HIM FOR TELLING ME”

“No, no, it’s fine, just… I’m sorry you really don’t have to worry about me.”

“HE SAID YOU ONLY CAME OUT OF YOUR ROOM TO EAT OR GO TO THE BATHROOM. EVEN A LAZYBONE LIKE HIM KNOWS THIS MUST NOT BE A HEALTY BEHAVIOUR FOR YOU.”

“Yes, I know but really it was just a bad time I only need to finish…”  you glanced back at the bright empty monitor “something…”

“USUALLY I WOULD SAY TO KEEP TRYING BUT I SEE YOU’VE ALREADY BEEN DOING THAT BY YOURSELF.”

“Yeah I have.” You curled up in the space between his legs, under his ribs. The reminder that in spite of all your effort you weren’t able to do anything made you feel small. Useless. Like you were just taking up space in the universe and had no way to pay for it. Maybe you could really disappear in his ribcage if you tried hard enough.

“AAAND?”

“I don’t know, nothing comes out as I want it too, everything I make looks boring and always the same. Maybe I’m broken or something…”

A glowed hand started to pat alongside your arm, an hesitant but sweet attempt to cheer you up.

 “I KNOW YOUR STANDARDS ARE VERY VERY HIGH, AND HIGHT STANDARDS ARE KNOWN TO BE A GOOD THING, BUT MAYBE THIS TIME WE COULD TRY TO USE A LITTLE LESS?”

Saying ‘I’ve heard this story a thousand and one time’ looked like too much air to let out of your lungs, so you just made a humming noise instead. Might be his magical skeleton powers, might be he just knew you better than you could even knew yourself, he seemed to understand.

“NO ONE BETTER THAN ME COULD UNDERSTAND THE BURNING FEELING OF BEING A PERFECTIONIST BUT -I’M TELLING YOU JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A FRIEND SO KEEP IT CONFIDENTIAL- NOT EVEN I WAS BORN PERFECT!!”

You faked a gasp “No way”

Encouraged by your reaction he kept going “I KNOW, THAT IS SO UNBELIEVABLE, BUT SANS CAN TESTIFY, YOU CAN ASK HIM IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME”

“Don’t worry Pap, I trust you.” As much as his bones allowed, you made yourself more comfortable resting your face on his ulna.

“YES I DIDN’T DOUBT THAT. ANYWAY! MY COOKING WAS… WELL, I WOULDN’T SAY IT WASN’T BAD MYSELF BUT IT DIDN’T SEEM TO BE VERY APREACIATED AT THE BEGINNING. SANS THINKS HE’S VERY SMART BUT I SAW HIM HIDING SPAGHETTI IN THE FAKE PLANTS POTS. WHERE DID HE THINK THE SPAGETTI WENT?? IN THE PLANTS STOMAC?? PLANTS DON’T EVEN HAVE STOMACS! IN THIS WE ARE VERY SIMILIAR”

You snickered at the thought of Sans attempting to feed fake pants with Papyrus horrible cooking and he smiled. Well, he was always smiling but you could have sworn this one was a little wider than usual.

“AT THIS POINT YOU MIGHT AS WELL ASK: ‘BUT PAPYRUS, MY DEAR HANDSOME FRIEND AND COMPANION, HOW COME YOU KEPT MAKING PASTA WHEN THERE WAS NO ONE WHO WANTED TO EAT IT?’”

He paused to allow you to catch up with the script.

“Oh handsome Papyrus, what was it that gave you the strength to keep going despite all those uncultured swines?”

Papyrus didn’t catch up to your very intellectual pop cultural reference but decided to just move on “AH I SEE YOU ARE A VERY SMART HUMAN! THE ANSWER TO THIS VERY GREAT QUESTION IS: I JUST LIKED TO COOK”

You turned to him not knowing if it was more appropriate to be amused or confused or both.

“What?? Papyrus that is not the great climax I was expecting!” You chose both.

With the brutal way he brought his hand to his chest you would have said he was hurt if you didn’t know he was a big drama queen “HOW COULD I EVER DISAPPOINT MY AUDIENCE! I OFFER YOU MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES, HUMAN. I WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH THIS SHAME FOREVER NOW, IT’S WHAT I DESERVE FOR LETTING YOU DOWN.”

His stupid serious gaze as he mourned about no longer being a skeleton of honor made you absolutely lose it. He ignored the red spot his bone leaved on your cheek and mentally marked your light giggles as progress.

“ANYWAY!” He kept going after your laughter died down “WHAT I TOLD YOU WAS NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH! I JUST LOVED COOKING. IT DIDN’T MATTER IF THE SPAGHETTI WERE GOOD, I JUST HAD FUN BOILING THE PASTA AND PREPARING THE SAUCE AND DOING ALL THE SOPHISTICATED KITCHEN STUFF”

The corners of his smile rose so high you were worried his skull might have cracked if he kept that smile going. He looked… proud. Of you? Why would he?

“AND ONE DAY I WAS GOOD ENOUGH THAT PEOPLE COULD ACTUALLY EAT MY PASTA!! THAT WAS NICE! IT ALWAYS IS!” His arms flew to the ceiling as he lifted his chin in pride “BUT THE REASON I KEEP COOKING TO THIS DAY IT’S BECAUSE I HAVE FUN DOING IT!”

Having fun… you haven’t thought about it that way since… a while… maybe since you were a child even. Everything from then on was about improving and practicing and making the best thing you could make, and you ended up forgetting why you started to draw in the first place. It was fun.

Maybe you should try it sometimes.

He seemed to notice your thought-filled silence and quickly brought his arms back to giving you encouraging pats, almost apologizing for his moment of self celebration.

“NYE… GOT A LITTLE CARRIED AWAY…”

“No Pap is fine…”

It was ridiculous the way Papyrus was able to give the best pep talks while still talking mostly about his magnificent self. He’d never cease to surprise you.

Your arms wrapped around his spine, not being able to reach anywhere near his neck.

“I think I got it now…”

**Author's Note:**

> this is the first think i draw in hhhhhh probably more than a year as you could see from the dates to my previous works.  
> apparently i can't be able to draw and write at the same time i have to chose only one, both would be too powerful.
> 
> hope you enjoyed! especially if you're an artist, listen to papy and have fun even if it looks awful, just draw what makes you happy and learn to fall in love with the process instead of the finished product.


End file.
